NGO Hails Duterte Admin Approval of P192m for Local Climate Action

A Manila-based international climate policy group applauded the Duterte administration’s move granting close to P200 million in climate funds to four local governments. The approval is a response to communities grappling with food security and water scarcity in the face of climate change.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, chair of the People’s Survival Fund board, today signed financial agreements worth a total of P191.70 million with the mayors of Del Carmen, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte; Lanuza, Surigao del Sur; Gerona, Tarlac; and San Francisco, Camotes Island, Cebu, all of whom welcomed the development.

Reacting to the commitment, Renato Redentor Constantino, executive director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, said:

“Setting up direct climate adaptation finance access for local governments is difficult but through sheer persistence, the Department of Finance and Climate Change Commission have delivered. We single out the leadership of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Climate Secretary Emmanuel De Guzman who have tirelessly prioritized the needs of LGUs on the frontline of the climate crisis.”

“None of this would have been possible without the tenacity of Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate finance and climate committees, who also today assumed the rank of Colonel in the Philippine Air Force (Reserve),” Constantino added. “The teamwork of Climate Change Commissioners De Guzman, Rachel Herrera, and Noel Gaerlan was likewise instrumental.”

The People’s Survival Fund is the country’s first legislated national adaptation fund. It is governed by the PSF Board, which is chaired by the Department of Finance and also composed of the Climate Change Commission, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Interior and Local Government, National Economic and Development Authority, Philippine Commission on Women, and representatives from civil society, the academe, and business sector. Constantino sits as a voting member on the PSF Board representing civil society organizations. (Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities)